Greece coach Fernando Santos said his players would leave Euro 2012 having grown in stature despite being on the wrong end of a 4-2 hammering by a vastly superior Germany in Friday's quarterfinal.

The 57-year-old Portuguese, who more than justified his 45 percent pay rise in his recently-signed contract as it qualified for the last eight at the expense of heavily-fancied Russia, said his side had never faltered during the match even when it was 4-1 down and took many positives away from the tournament.

"I want to congratulate my players because they fought at this game until the very last moment and, of course, they managed to make it this far," said Santos, who guided Porto to the 1999 league title and then to Cup wins in 2000 and 2001.

AFP

(China Daily 06/24/2012 page12)